Playing Tourist

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted...

The New Year got off to rough start for me as I lost one of my best friends to cancer.

There has been a big void in my life without her and even though I know she is in a better place,  I miss her every day.

So, it was a wonderful treat to have my 2 cousins come stay with me last weekend. 

They made the trip up from Southern California to visit their Northern California Cousins and to check in on their Godmother who recently relocated to a lovely Senior Retirement Community in my neighborhood.

On Saturday morning my cousin Allison suggested we walk the Golden Gate Bridge which I thought was a splendid idea as neither I nor my hubby had ever done it before!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day!

It was simply amazing, everywhere we looked were breathtaking views, sailboats, and frolicking dolphins.

I still pinch myself over how blessed I am to live where I live and how I need to get out and be a "tourist" more often!

I hear there is a path you can ride your bike on starting in Emeryville that takes you over the Bay Bridge and onto Treasure Island!

IMPOSSIBLE!

That, at least, is what many thought until Joseph Baermann Strauss and his team of engineers proved them wrong.  Here at the Golden Gate strait, ocean winds are fierce, tides are strong, currents churn, fog rolls in like clockwork, and a major geological fault lies less than twelve miles offshore.

But in November 1930, just thirteen months after the stock market crash that brought Wall Street to its knees, residents of six northern California counties voted to put up their homes, farms, vineyards, and businesses to back $35 million in bonds to build the Golden Gate Bridge.  The project had been the focus of heated public debate, not to mention multiple lawsuits, for more than a decade by the time the bond issue was approved.

Today, the bold and elegant span, a marvel of engineering, stands as a powerful symbol of American ingenuity and perseverance.   From those who proposed and supported it to those who designed it and built it, the Golden Gate Bridge represents the triumph of optimism  and conviction over doubt and a willingness to take risks that continue to inspire us.